That was Bruce Zinne, a good-natured, slow-moving educator who inspired long after he intimidated.
Beryl Husby, a hairdresser, remembers. Husby had sat in Zinne’s counseling office in the 1970s, long before he sat in her styling chair. She remembers being awed as a high school student by the man’s giant frame.
Husby was a good student but she’d started skipping school, and that just wasn’t all right with Mr. Zinne. He reprimanded her, but she said he did it in his own warm way.
“It was more reassuring. 'You have to go to school. It’s very important.’ He never made me feel bad that I was in there,” Husby said. Something happened after his talks, too. “I got more worried I was going to let him down by not going to school.”
So Husby graduated. Whenever she ran into Zinne afterward, he always had a bear hug for her. That and a tease. She went on to become Zinne’s stylist for a time and saw the fun-loving side of him when he wandered into the salon.
“He loved to tease. He always called me Beryl-the-Butcher, which, being a hairdresser, that’s not really a compliment,” Husby said.
Mostly, she just took his teasing, but sometimes she’d josh him right back. There were some times when Zinne wanted his hair permed because he thought it made his locks look thicker. Husby’d tell him otherwise.
“Bruce. They’re not helping. You look like a giant Q-Tip.”
He even teased people by proxy. Mary Younger, a school counselor, had tasted Zinne’s delectable rum cake when he worked with her at Sentinel High School.
“He made it at Christmastime. His Christmas rum cake was a favorite for us all,” Younger said.
Zinne, who had moved on to Big Sky High School, died Sept. 11 of an apparent heart attack. He was 67. Some two weeks before his death, one of his Big Sky students transferred to Sentinel and passed along a message to Younger.
“Mr. Zinne wanted me to let you know they have rum cake over there.”
He had a long career as an educator, working as a teacher, athletic director and counselor. He also served as a longtime principal at Sentinel. Younger said Zinne was one of those guys who just got along with everyone. He’d move through the halls slowly, never in a hurry, saying hello to everyone and being congenial to all.
“The kids really liked him,” Younger said.
One friend said the best two years of his career were those when he worked alongside Zinne.
Zinne had been Dean Yould’s boss, his principal, and when Yould decided to retire and work just part-time, Zinne picked up the other part of the job. And Yould worried.
“When he first came on, I thought, 'Oh, my gosh,’ ’cause we’re kind of different personalities. He’s real laid back and I’m kind of uptight. I thought, 'Oh, my. I’m not sure this is going to work,’ ” Yould said.
But it did, and he said it worked out better than he ever expected. He taught the man who had been his superior about being a college and career counselor, and Zinne loved the learning.
“I thought it worked out just wonderfully,” Yould said.
Zinne had a gentle demeanor and put students right at ease, Yould said. In Zinne’s presence, they opened up - and lit up, too. If he was ever sarcastic, it was in a friendly kind of way.
“He was good at poking fun at himself. And he was humble,” Yould said.
The two became fast friends. They golfed together and hiked Blue Mountain together with Zinne’s dogs, Jake and Rylie. At one point, Yould was so grateful for Zinne’s slow pace. Yould had ruined his back in a ski accident at Snowbowl, and his rehabilitation included a lot of slow walking. Even at the mall, Zinne walked with him, a great big man trudging along slowly with his friend, who was feeble and used a walker or cane.
“So he was great that way. I loved his dogs, loved his family, loved his grandchildren,” Yould said.
Since Zinne’s death, Yould said he’s walked the hills with Zinne’s daughter, who occasionally went along with the two friends before. And Yould said he’ll keep doing that, walking with the daughter and pets of his friend, and he won’t be alone in missing Zinne.
“It’s just hard. He was a good guy and good friend. But he was a good friend to a lot of people,” he said.
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